COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Seven years ago, Lexington psychiatrist Charles Ham retired from the Army. Or at least he thought so.

Then, the other day, he got a call telling him to report to Fort Jackson for a physical examination.

Ham, who wore a U.S. Army uniform for 41 years, knew 5,600 veterans who recently had left the service were being called up. But he never thought he would be on the list. "You know, I'm 67 years old. Why do you need me?" Ham asked.

The caller explained the Army needed psychiatrists to counsel troops.

A recent study found the suicide rate of soldiers serving in Iraq is higher than for other GIs. The suicide rate in Iraq was 17.3 per 100,000 soldiers, compared with 12.8 for the Army overall.

How does one get out from under a ton of bricks? A ton of bricks fell when the twin towers fell the sad day of 9/11--but GEORGE WALKER BUSH IS THE ONGOING TON OF BRICKS WHICH FALLS DAILY UPON OUR LIVING.

A SIXTY-SEVEN YEAR OLD PSYCHIATRIST SHOULD BE ENTITLED TO RETIRE IF HE SO CHOOSES.

SINCE THE CIA NEEDS A NEW DIRECTOR, MAYBE GEORGE W. WANTS TO RECALL GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH AS DIRECTOR FOR THE CIA AGENCY WHICH PROBABLY HE STILL CONTROLS THROUGH A BACK DOOR JUST LIKE THE PRESIDENCY THAT HE IS ALSO CONTINUING TO RUN THROUGH THE BACK DOOR.

How does one get our from under a ton of bricks? Or how does one get out from under the power grab of the bush man who was never elected president but who was seated at the Oval Office when five felonious supreme court judges silenced the people's voices and proceeded to install THE BUSH BOY, like a ton of bricks, against the people's choice.

If the Pentagon (and the VA) really want to help returning vets, they'd better get hundreds more like Mr Ham - to defuse all of the human time-bombs created by the inhumanity of the present Iraq conflict.

I have been pretty confident that my spouse, almost 70 and a vet, was immune from being pressed back into "service". But he is a computer genius, and I've heard the military is panting after those types, so this report gets me more than a little concerned. I have the sense that the Army will have offer no quarter when they decide they "need" boots on the ground or specialized skills. I'm guessing that suicide rate is going to go even higher, and all the counseling of the troops they can muster isn't going to help much. Iran is looming as the next "pre-emptive strike", then of course there's North Korea and Syria...the list goes on.

18. "I was thinking my ten-year-old grandson is safe, but who knows now?"

I've been worried about my son, now twelve years old, ever since Bush started his war plans on Afghanistan and Iraq, post 9/11. I've been feeling a draft coming for nearly three years now, and it is getting very chilly...

Now here Iran comes--Bush is making noises about Iran's connection with 9-11 hijackers, and we know what that means. Good to know you share my concern about youngsters--I have felt like I'm alone in that, and I am convinced Bushco will institute the draft at the first minute possible. Have heard they've raised the maximum age from 18 to 34, and women/girls will be drafted as well. Very glad my two daughters are now 34 and almost 36, but besides my 7-and-10-year-old grandsons, I have two stepgrandchildren, 13 and 16. I am very scared, and working hard to defeat Bush. He must go, for all our sakes!

Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior U.S. military officer in Iraq, borrowed heavily from a list of high-pressure interrogation tactics used at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and approved letting senior officials at a Baghdad jail use military dogs, temperature extremes, reversed sleep patterns, sensory deprivation, and diets of bread and water on detainees whenever they wished, according to newly obtained documents.

The U.S. policy, details of which have not been previously disclosed, was approved in early September, shortly after an Army general sent from Washington completed his inspection of the Abu Ghraib jail and then returned to brief Pentagon officials on his ideas for using military police there to help implement the new high-pressure methods.

The documents obtained by The Washington Post spell out in greater detail than previously known the interrogation tactics Sanchez authorized, and make clear for the first time that, before last October, they could be imposed without first seeking the approval of anyone outside the prison. That gave officers at Abu Ghraib wide latitude in handling detainees.

Unnamed officials at the Florida headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, which has overall military responsibility for Iraq, objected to some of the 32 interrogation tactics approved by Sanchez in September, including the more severe methods that he had said could be used at any time in Abu Ghraib with the consent of the interrogation officer in charge.

If they are willing to drag this man back in even though he is 67 years old, you know that they are going to be more than willing to draft young people to be cannon fodder in Iraq, Afghanistan and/or Iran.

>>>>>>>A recent study found the suicide rate of soldiers serving in Iraq is higher than for other GIs. The suicide rate in Iraq was 17.3 per 100,000 soldiers, compared with 12.8 for the Army overall. <<<<<<<<

Perhaps it has something to do with all the civilians being killed, a pre-emptive unilateral strike on a country which was not an immediate threat to us, G.I.s dying for no true, justifiable reason and the payoff going to Bush and his cronies?

I can guarantee that the tour of duty extensions and "stop loss" handcuffs -- not to mention 'working' alongside private mercs that get >$100K/yr (tax free) to do easier stuff, who can quit at any time -- go a loooong way to fucking up the morale of any GIs.

"Daily whippings will continue until the morale improves." ... Only the Busholini Regime can make this joke sound like an understatement.

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